Giants' Manning returns to practice
Football Betting Lines
01/19/2012 - East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning was a full participant in practice on Thursday after leaving Wednesday's practice with a stomach illness.
"I'm 100 percent. I had a full practice today, I did everything, took every rep," said Manning. "I feel good."
The Giants started practicing for Sunday's NFC Championship Game in San Francisco on Wednesday with Manning on the field, but ended it without him. Backup quarterback David Carr took over at practice after he left.
"I just woke up not feeling well and just tried to tough it out through meetings and everything and did fine. Once we got out to practice, it just wasn't going well, so I just kind of tried to be smart and just say hopefully this will be a 24-hour bug," Manning said about why he left practice.
"I came back in and got some fluids and just tried to make sure I didn't make it worse. I'm just fortunate this happened on a Wednesday and not later in the week."
Manning passed for a career-high 4,933 yards and 29 touchdowns in the regular season and has thrown for 607 yards and six scores in playoff wins over the Falcons and Packers.
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - DePaul junior forward Tony Freeland plans to transfer due to a family illness, the school announced Thursday. Freeland, who was already out for the season due to a shoulder injury, said that he is going h
<< Acclamation's trainer disappointed with Eclipse Award
Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It may seem funny, but trainer Don Warren
doesn't appear all that enthused with winning a 2011 Eclipse Award. His
charge, Acclamation, was voted 2011 champion Older Male thoroughbred.
What's not to
<< Busch brothers sharing Nationwide driving duties at KBM
Mooresville, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Busch Motorsports announced on
Thursday that brothers Kyle and Kurt Busch will share driving duties in the
No.54 Toyota during the 2012 Nationwide Series season.
KBM is entering its first f
<< Indians P Carmona arrested for double identity
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Indians pitcher Fausto Carmona was arrested
Thursday in his native Dominican Republic on charges of double identity.
Maximo Baez Aybar, a spokesman for the Dominican National Police, said
through
<< Jacksonville State to play Arkansas, Florida
Jacksonville, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jacksonville State's Jack Crowe still
keeps his ties to the SEC.
The dean of Ohio Valley Conference head football coaches will lead his
Gamecocks program into not one, but two games against SEC opponents i
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - AC Milan striker Alexandre Pato is expected to miss three to four weeks with a thigh injury sustained Wednesday in the Coppa Italia win over Novara. Pato's extra-time goal helped Milan defeat Novara, 2-1, but
Report: Saints hire Spagnuolo as defensive coordinator >>
Metairie, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Saints have decided on Steve
Spagnuolo as their next defensive coordinator, according to a report by FOX's
Jay Glazer.
Spagnuolo spent the last three seasons as the head coach of the St
Toms, Villegas share lead in California >>
La Quinta, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Toms and Camilo Villegas carded
matching rounds of nine-under 63 Thursday to share the first-round lead at the
Humana Challenge.
The leaders played two different courses on Thursday. Toms was
Jackets ink D Lebda >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Blue Jackets signed veteran
defenseman Brett Lebda to a one-year contract on Thursday.
Lebda, 30, played in 41 games last season for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He
registered four points,
No. 10 Ohio State downs Nebraska >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tayler Hill scored 21 points to go with 10
rebounds and six steals as the 10th-ranked Buckeyes took down Nebraska, 82-68,
on Thursday.
Samantha Prahalis netted 19 points and dished out nine assists, whil
How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?
The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.
While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.
For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.
1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.
2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.
How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.
Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.
Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.
How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).
Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.
Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.
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